Yuri Alekseevich Krivonischenko (Georgiy)

Born on 7 Feb 1935, USSR.

Krivonischenko was a friend of Dyatlov, he took part in almost all the expeditions that Igor went to. Also Georgiy was good friends with the majority of Dyatlov group, who often visited the spacious apartment of his parents in the city centre of Svredlovsk. Krivonishenko’s parents were well-educated and influential people, and they often welcomed students to their place. His father was the chief construction engineer of the Beloyarski Hydro-Electro Station. Yuri himself was the life of the party. Although in fact Krivonishchenko bore the name of Georgiy, friends usually called him Yuri (similar to Zolotaryov's case who was named Semyon but he preferred and friends called him Sasha). Yuri is a Slavic adaptation of the Christian name Georgiy which has Greek origin (Wikipedia).

He studied construction and hydraulics in UPI University, graduated in 1957. While working in Chelyabinsk - 40 a secret nuclear facility he experienced a disaster that became known as Kyshtym disaster. On September 29, 1957 plutonium plant experienced radioactive leak. Yuri (or Georgiy) Krivonishenko was among the people who was sent to clean it up. His body will wear clothes that have traces of radioactivity that some trace to this particular event. However being an engineer Yuri had more knowledge about radioactivity than most people at the time and it is highly unlikely that he kept any of the clothes that he was wearing two years prior to the trip.

The in-house court joker. He was always looking to amuse his friends with jokes or playing the mandolin. The mandolin he took on the doomed hike was found at the storage shed where the skiers left provisions for their way back. Their arrival in the town of Serov on the morning of 24 February was marked by an unpromising incident: Yuri Krivonischenko was detained by the police at the railway station. At first the police did not let the group into the building. They probably thought these young people were too noisy for the sleepy settlement, but then they relented and allowed the group to enter the station. Krivonischenko was great fun to be around, and on that morning he was in a particularly exuberant mood. First he asked Lyuda for money to buy breakfast in a café. Lyuda, who was the group’s treasurer, told him they couldn't afford it. Perhaps she was trying to compensate for her extravagance in Sverdlovsk, where she’d bought that unnecessary five metres of cambric which cost 200 roubles. In response, Krivonischenko started to sing loudly, and the police were swiftly alerted. But Krivonischenko was not only singing when he was approached by the policeman: was also acting like a panhandler, walking around with a hat in his hands and asking for money. "They immediately took him to the police station. The policeman told him singing in public places is forbidden. This is the first public place where it's forbidden to sing!" Lyuda tried to find an explanation as to why the police took this approach. "It’s because this town is very calm, as if it’s already a Communist era here – no crime, no law violations – and then our Yurka Krivonischenko started to sing loudly."

He was 5 days shy of his 24th birthday when he died. Krivonischenko is buried on May 9, 1959, in Ivanovskoe cemetery, Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia. The funeral »